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High language
The high language was the official language of the heptarchate and hexarchate. Overview Though low languages are not illegal once adjusted to conform to the high calendar, the high language is the only acceptable language in mainstream hexarchate culture and low languages or accents are regarded with suspicion.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4 Calligraphic scrolls with phrases in the high language are a frequently-seen art form in the hexarchate. Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14 Modern communications keep the high language from changing quickly, but older forms and accents occasionally survive in isolated areasHexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon or ritual use, such as a litany for one of the chocolate festivals.Revenant Gun, Chapter 3 Representatives of the Kel Command hivemind, including the Kel hexarch, traditionally used an archaic plural version of the first-person pronoun. On one occasion, Hexarch Kel Tsoro used an equally archaic singular version to show that her own decision had preempted the hivemind's.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25 Description In the high language, honorifics,Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14 pronouns, and verbs inflect for level of politenessRaven Stratagem, Chapter 8 and awareness of social status.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4 Various honorifics may follow certain names or titles, such as -zho (for hexarchs, archaic);Raven Stratagem, Chapter 9 -ye (for instructors), and -shei (sometimes, though not always, for lovers).Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25 Honorifics and proper names may be omitted between persons of equal social status.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 17 While characters are referred to in the text as he/she/they/it, the high language has only one gender pronoun for living beings.Author's remarks Its two forms of the second person pronoun distinguish between animate life and inanimate objects; it is considered insulting to refer to a person with the inanimate form.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6; Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon Animals and archaic cultural or religious objects (such as fire) may be referred to with the animate form; servitors and objects are referred to as inanimate.Author's remarks The term for "children" or "offspring" in the high-language sense refers solely to custodial children, no matter whose genetic material the children carried. There is no term for noncustodial offspring of a genetic contributor in the high language; the word for "spawn," used exclusively for animals, comes closest, but is offensive to use in regard to humans.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10 "To be" has a present/future form.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6 Modern high language rarely inflects for singular or plural.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25 The term for "pile" doesn't inflect for a specific number, but indicates that the number is a large one.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 8 The terms for "silence" and "community" are associated in the high language.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 11 Its word for "hurt" does not differentiate between physical and mental harm.Honesty Calligraphy The high language has a vertical scriptNinefox Gambit, Chapter 18 with a specific stroke order for each letter.Revenant Gun, Chapter 24 Finely done brushstrokes are neither too precise nor too wild, which is not easy.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14 Trivia * Kujen occasionally lapsed into an archaic form of the high language during stays at Tefos Base.Revenant Gun, Chapter 3 Avros Base spoke in the high language whose slight accent was several centuries old.Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon * The Tlen Gwa term for the high language is "the mongrel language."Extracurricular Activities * The high language came from the same language family as two of the low languages spoken by General Kel Khiruev.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10 * A form of physical therapy prescribed for General Kel Inesser's injured ankle included writing letters of the alphabet with her foot while meditating on brushstroke order.Revenant Gun, Chapter 24 * Originally, the high language was supposed to have been derived from a language called Tieneved. In later drafts, references to Tieneved were removed, except from one offhand remark by Shuos Jedao.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10 * The alphabet of the high language is very loosely inspired by Korean.Author's alphabet chart References Category:Language Category:Heptarchate Category:Hexarchate Category:Stubs